www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Buddhists Everywhere

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Folks,

I need your help and prayers. Buddhist books are popping up around my secular office like wildfire.

Western Christians (practicing and non-practicing) are giving them to each other as gifts and discussing the teachings.

I feel the call to share the true faith too. Everywhere I look I see the Dalai Lama looking at me from book covers.

Any thoughts? I need to be careful because I'm at the office.

Perhaps I could pass out copies of the Way of the Pilgrim and chotkis? It would have to be a small, compressed version of the book though.

I'd be grateful for any thoughts.

Also, any EC sites that compare/contrast the two religions?

John

Dear John,

Unfortunately, at the work place, I would just ignore what is going on. Ignoring something is a polite way of saying that you are not interested and not amused. If further pressed, you might say, that you are a Christian and satisfied with your faith, or something similar.

Acting like a Christian, by being a good, kind and compassionate person, is more an example of Christianity than anything else. In very secular parts of the country and workplaces, that is the extent that we can comfortably discuss our faith.

I can't tell you how many times I hear people talking about that horrible 'Da Vinci Code', and how I should read it, and that I would REALLY like it...If it is at work, I just say that I am probably not going to read it and I don't go into further explanation, because I know that my thoughts would be empassioned. I CAN share my empassioned thoughts with friends who are also Orthodox, however. It is just a matter of discernment I suppose.

Remember what St. Francis said: Preach the Gospel, and if you must, use words!

Or St. Seraphim of Sarov: Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved.

These are my humble thoughts for what they are worth...

In Christ,
Alice

Alice,

I think I would not resist speaking about my faith if opportunity arose and it was appropriate. I would not be pushy but let people know that there are alternatives to religions that are not Christian. Unless we do this people think they already know about the Christian faith. We are the mean spirited ones depicted on the media. We are the ones who hate homosexuals. We are the ones who are warmongers.

The oft' repeated quote attributed to St. Francis is probably not from him at all. At least there is no record of him ever having said this. It seems to be a pius exaggeration.

Dan Lauffer, Professor of Theology, University of St. Francis, Joliet, Il

Och! `Da Vinci Code' took me 5 minutes on Google to debunk. How much respect can you give an author who bases his `controversial' premise on hoaxes and poor scholarship that were thoroughly debunked 20 years ago. Oh, of course it's all a conspiracy to cover up the truth about Christ's progeny. Geesh! Not only was the whole thing a bunch of poorly contrived alternate `truths' it was poorly written. So poorly, that I simply couldn't finish it.

If you want a `smart' novel about esoteric conspiracies give Umberto Eco's Focault's Pendulum a try. Eco, a self-proclaimed formerly-devout Catholic turned agnostic, gives a rather nice apology for Christian teaching. Eco's probably better known for `The Name of the Rose'.

Ephrem

Buddhists aren't the worst thing in the world. The Dalai Lama has a charming simplicity of wisdom about him that is compelling.

I've actually found that the things in Buddhist teaching which draw in former Christians are things which can better receive their answer in patristic and monastic Christianity. I am quite happy to respectfully disagree with Buddhists and find those really committed to learning the `way of the Buddha' to be less rancorous than us opinionated Christians. I've most often found that Christians following after Buddhism are sorely unaware of our own mystical traditions.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is something admirable within Buddhism, but untimately hope that people will realize the fullness of hope and forgiveness in Christianity.

Ephrem

Of course, the Buddhist teachings are mostly pretty morally conservative, too. Something that tends to be overlooked by Westerners who are just seeing what they want to see.

Ephrem

That is too bad! I actually rejoiced that my Orthodox priest was quoting a Catholic saint!

Alice

That really is the truth. Have you ever read the "Nine Incapabilities"? They put us to shame.

Dan L

It's not that bad. He may have said it and we haven't yet found it. In any rate it is Fransiscan in spirit.

Dan L

Just a resource - I know that Shambala Press puts out a small-pocket-calculator-sized edition of The Way of a Pilgrim.


Cheers,

Sharon

No, you wouldn't like it. I haven't read it, but there was a TV documentary about it a few weeks ago which actually gave both sides for and against it. It's complete garbage, of course, and it took about 5 minutes of watching to decide that. I once heard an expression that went something like the following. When there is a loss of faith, the danger is not that people will become atheists. The danger is that they will believe anything that comes along. I think we have all seen evidence of that.

Perhaps you are remembering an oft (mis)quoted line from G.K. Chesterton:

While he never apparently wrote that precise formula the idea is to be found throughout much of his writings. See http://www.chesterton.org/qmeister2/any-everything.htm

Ephrem
(who could swear that he'd actually read those lines in Chesterton)

Of course one must distinguish between traditional Buddhism and the westernized versions, though transplanted easterners have been quick to cash in on the American taste for religion with no moral demands [something not foreign to American versions of Christianity, either].
I had a close friend who became deeply immersed in Tibetan Buddhism [American version]. There was a lot of "Tantric" sex involved at their retreats. The head lama ended up contracting AIDS and then giving it to some of his disciples before he died!

That's quite sad on so many levels. The `orgy' is not a Buddhist practice. Tantrism was not the form of Buddhism to which I was exposed, and it sounds more like your friend was the victim of a charlatan and not anything within their true tradition. At any rate what I have read about the matter is that it is viewed as dangerous even when done within the tradition -- something which will either result in enlightenment or hell.

I don't want to give the impression that I agree with Tantrism -- but I do find all forms of charlatanism deeply offensive. On the other hand followers of authentic traditions are something which I can respect and with which I can respectfully engage and disagree.

Ephrem